Shine Like the Sun
by ChocoBanana Parfait
Summary: The warriors of Cosmos get to know Tidus better one-on-one.
1. Stories: Warrior of Light

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

He definitely is something else.

Most of the warriors had some doubts and insecurities and wanted to prove themselves or find their reasons of being. Some were flippant and although they knew this war was serious, they laughed and approached it like it was some kind of game. But there was something different about him.

He would act like a carefree child with the younger warriors, and then all of a sudden turn into a fierce warrior when sparring with elder ones. He'd be lost and have many questions and would seek help from other warriors, but later lead them without a cloud of doubt and with certainty against harsh battles with the imitations.

Something about him definitely is… different. Special even.

"Hey, whatcha doing?"

I turned to see him approaching me, hands behind his head and a smile always on his face. I greeted him with a nod.

He stopped and scratched his head. "Well, we never really got to talk one-on-one before, have we?"

I shook my head, "No, but that can't be helped, since I was journeying by myself most of the time."

"Hm, I guess you're right." He crossed his arms and looked at me. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"So, your world had crystals in it too, right?" I nodded my head, and his eyes seemed to light up. "That means you saved towns and princesses and fought lots of epic monsters, right? That sounds amazing! You must be an awesome legend back in your world or something."

I had to smile as he went on talking about how he imagined me going through dungeons and caves like it was some epic adventure, his energy and youthfulness was quite contagious. He stopped motioning through fake swordfights and turned to ask, "Doesn't all the fame get tiring sometimes though?"

I shook my head. "My companions and I did go through many trials to fight off evil, but no one remembers it. Everyone's memories were erased because we broke Garland's cycle of time. Our adventure is not written in history and no one will ever tell the tale to their descendants."

"But, isn't that sad, that there's nothing left of it?"

"As long as the world is at peace, the story of how it was saved is not important."

He frowned at that. "But it is important, it's your story! You and your friends made that story together. What about all the people that you helped and saved? Someone should remember it."

I gave a small chuckle. "The world is better off without remembering Garland and a cycle of chaos and darkness."

He put a hand to his chin, giving this some thought. "That may be, but don't tell yourself that it's not important. It's a part of you, and you're a part of it. Always remember that."

There it is again, something about his eyes or his speech or his attitude, something that I cannot name. What does he remind me of… "Well then, what of your own story?"

He smiled and put his arms behind his head again. "Mine's on hold right now. Who knows, maybe after all this I'll be able to go back and finish it for real this time. With a good ending though."

Some of the others were starting to call for him to have another sparring match. "Well, it was nice to finally be able to talk with you."

"I wish you all the best in your endeavors."

He smirked and held his thumb up with one hand. "Of course, I'm the ace after all!" And he ran off to join the others.

As I watched the group, he stood out the most among them. He shone brighter than anyone and revitalized the others around him. That's when it dawned on me.

He was like the sun.


	2. Dreams: Frioniel

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

As we journeyed along, each gathering their own crystals, bonds had formed between the warriors, and some bonds were closer than others. He grew to be one of my most trusted companions, and he even gave me a nickname.

"Hey Rosebud, wait up!"

As much as I am glad that we have developed a strong friendship, his name for me was a little bit embarrassing at times.

He slowed his run when he caught up to me, and we walked without speaking with each other, he was humming a song, most likely from his home world.

"So, why do you call me Rosebud?"

He stopped humming. "Well, you always have that rose with you, so I thought it fit. And you never really answered my question before."

"Which question?"

"Everyone knows that rose is important to you, but what makes it so special? Aren't there more flowers back in your world?"

Thinking back on it, I never really did tell anyone why roses were so special to me. "Back in my world, before I came to join with all of you, I was fighting in a war with my friends against the Empire. The Empire destroyed my home and split my family, and the name of the rebel group I joined was called 'Wild Rose.' So I guess roses became a symbol of hope for me."

He gave a low whistle. "Wow, that sounds intense."

"Ha, well it's not so bad, thinking back on it now. But now that the war is over, I don't really know what I have left to do, and yet I still cling onto this rose."

He furrowed his brows, seeming to be in deep thought about something. We walked in more silence, before he snapped his fingers. "That's right! Didn't you tell Cloud before that you had a dream though? That you wanted to make a world full of roses, or where roses can bloom, or something like that? There you go, that's your new goal!"

I laughed, he had such a victorious look on his face when he said that. "That may be, but it's nothing too serious. It's still only a dream after all, and most dreams don't come true. It's still a nice thought to have though."

He stopped walking, and it was a couple more steps before I realized he wasn't next to me anymore. I turned around to look at him.

"Tidus?"

"Don't say things like that."

I was shocked, I never saw him with such a serious face on him before, even when he was talking about fighting his father. "Wha-"

"Don't just give up. Dreams are more real than you think. If you always think about it and work for it, it'll come true one day. It'll become real!"

Well, this reaction was stunning. "Do you really think so?"

He pumped his fist. "Yeah! Believe me, anything someone dreams up can be real. And if anyone's stopping you, you just knock 'em down and keep going!"

"What if it's not a person that's hindering me, but something we can't see or feel, or maybe even my own thoughts?"

He paced back and forth to think about this, then he turned to look at me. "If it's your thoughts, then you just need someone to give you a pep talk to cheer you up. If it's something else, well, I don't know how to deal with it now, but when you get to that point, you'll figure something out then!"

I have no idea what this 'pep talk' he mentioned is, but his answer was so direct and clear, I laughed aloud again. "Since you said it, even I believe I can make my dreams possible."

He came up to me and clapped me on my back. "I know you can do it, Rosebud."

"What about you? Do you have any dreams?"

He seemed surprised. "No one's asked me about my dreams before. Hmm, well, I can't say I have any dreams for myself. But I'd like someone else's dream to be real. Well, I guess part of it came true."

"What of the other part?"

He scratched his head. "That part I'm still working on. It's a lot tougher than I thought it was. But it's alright, I've been in hopeless situations before, but I came out alright."

"If it's you, then I know you'll be alright."

He gave a sheepish grin, then continued to walk again. And for a brief moment, it seemed like his body was fading away. Maybe I was imagining things. And I learned something new about him.

He believes in dreams.


	3. Growing Up: Onion Knight

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

Being the youngest of the group is tough. Everyone else is so big mature, and they seem like they can take on any challenge in the world. While it took him five, quick hits to launch an enemy away, it took the others one strong swing. Even during battles, the older warriors would tell him to stay in the back and watch the rear while they went to the front and defeated the imitations with ease.

'If only I were bigger, I'd be able to help out and fight more too.'

"Whatcha up to?"

I turned around at the voice. He was walking up to me, all smiles and youthfulness, even if he was another grown-up of the group. "Nothing much, just thinking."

"What's the matter?" He took a seat next to me, crossing his legs and propping his chin in one hand.

"You're just going to think it's childish."

"Doesn't matter, a problem is a problem. So, spill it."

So I told him everything. I felt weak because my body was considerably smaller than everyone else, and I didn't feel strong enough because everyone would rush forward and leave me behind.

"I just want to be able to be a grown up quickly." I looked to his face to see his reaction.

"Hmm," his face scrunched up in thought. "I think you're pretty awesome though."

I was expecting a lecture or reprimand for being too childish, so this answer was unexpected. "Really? But, why? There's nothing great about me, and you're way better than me in fighting."

"Well, look at you. You're the youngest out of all of us, yet you still manage to keep up with us."

"No one ever lets me fight, so I'm just standing by doing nothing," I shot back at him.

"But you know how to use magic also! You can use swords and use magic, and at such a young age."

I gave him a deadpanned look. "Have you _seen_ me use Firaga? I get flung back every time I use it. And my Meteors are tiny compared to Terra's."

He let out a frustrated sigh, stood up, and started to pace back and forth. "I got it! You can change into different job classes! That's not something everyone can do!"

"I can only change when I'm powered up. Cecil can change whenever he wants, and Bartz is able to do anything anyone can do." I looked down at the ground, dejected.

He threw his arms in the air. "Ugh, I'm getting tired of doing this an adult's way!" I looked up at him in shock.

He just pointed to me. "I'm just gonna say this bluntly, and you better not interrupt me. I think you're great. Compared to how I was when I was younger, you're way cooler than me. When I was your age, I couldn't do anything by myself. I had no idea how to use a sword until a little while ago, and I couldn't even kick a blitzball properly when I was younger."

Well, that was a shocker. He seemed to move so fluidly when he fought, and whenever he used his blitzball, it hurt a lot. "But-"

"Nuh-uh, I'm not finished yet. Out of all the grown-ups here, you were the first one to find your crystal. Everyone knows finding your crystals is tough, but you managed to do it before everyone else."

Well, that fact I couldn't deny. "I guess you're right, maybe."

"Not maybe, definitely." He grinned. "Besides, being a grown-up isn't as great as you think it is. When you're a grown-up, you have to follow 'rules' on how to do things, and grown-ups end up thinking way too much about problems that it gets them nowhere. I think it's better just to do things first and then think about it later, although that might not be a good thing to do all the time, heh."

I smiled up at him. "So are you saying you're still a kid then?"

"Well, maybe not a crybaby kid like I used to be, but I think I'm still not an adult like Cecil and the others."

Now this was amusing, the guy who was all happiness and enthusiasm, used to be a crybaby. "You were a crybaby?"

He blushed a little and shook his head quickly. "Well, I wasn't really a crybaby. My old man and his friend called me a crybaby, but I only cried once or twice!"

I fell back onto the ground and laughed while he stood there, slightly embarrassed. "Well, I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

I sat back up again. "Oh, sorry about that. But yes, you did make me feel better, so thank you for that."

He scratched the back of his head. "Good. And don't you forget that you're just as strong as anyone else here. Cosmos saw that you're strong, and that's why you're part of our group." He turned to walk back towards the others to help the others set up tents for the night.

I got up and started to walk over to the others and examined the group. When he was with the others helping out, he did have an air of maturity and he seemed like a responsible adult. But I knew that wasn't entirely true.

He was still a kid like me.


	4. Family: Cecil

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

As the battles went on, I started to get more worried. We were only fighting the imitations now, but the time would come when I would have to face the real version of my brother. I had fought him in the past, but circumstances were different now.

"Watch out Cecil!"

I woke up from daze and managed to quickly block a blow coming at me and threw my spear towards the enemy. As I saw the figure dissolving, I saw that the imitation was in my brother's image, and grimaced.

He ran up behind me. "Hey man, you alright? Do you need a break?"

I shook my head, "No, I'm fine. We should keep moving anyway."

"Does it really bother you that much to fight him?" I turned to look at him with surprise, sometimes he was more perceptive than I gave him credit for. "I mean, if you guys are so close, why is he one of the bad guys?"

I gave him a wry smile. "Things were different back then. When I first met him, we were enemies because his actions were threatening the peace of our world, and he had destroyed many towns and kingdoms. He even made me fight my closest friend."

"…And you _like_ this guy?!"

I shook my head and chuckled at his shocked expression. "Things were not as it seemed. My brother was being controlled by a greater evil, his mind was not his own."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Hmm, so I guess after you found that out, you became best buds, huh?"

I shook my head again. "Actually, I still had trouble calling him brother, after all the horrible things he had done, and growing up thinking I had no family left, the experience was a bit surreal."

He raised an eyebrow. "So what makes you so attached to him now? It's not like you guys really talked about everything and settled it, right?"

"Well, you do have a point there. But the last time I saw him, he was trying to save me and my companions, facing off against the evil that once controlled him. It truly seemed like he was repenting for everything he had done, and it felt to me like he was protecting me in his own way, like an older brother." I looked up to the stars that had started to dot the sky. "If he was still influenced by evil, or if he didn't care about me, I don't think he would have come to aid us. So now, I want to get closer to him, to show him that I'll always be there for him.

"Hmm, it must be nice, knowing that you guys are looking out for each other."

"What of you and your father then? Did you feel disheartened when you had to face him in your travels?"

He let out a snort. "Please, if I got as many chances to fight him like you could've fought Golbez, I would've been happier." He linked his hands behind his head. "He's always like that, taunting me and telling me I'm not good enough. But when I finally get a chance to fight him, he goes easy on me! Well, losing to him would've meant the end of the world, but still!" He let out a frustrated grunt.

I didn't realize losing to his father was that devastating for him to seem as if the world ended. "But now that both of you are here, you can try to reconcile with each other."

"Fat chance. Unlike you and your brother, my old man hasn't been very 'caring' and father-like to me when we run into each other. And I don't plan on going easy on him when I do fight him this time just because he's my old man."

"Were things really that bad between you?"

"Well, whenever he was home, he'd be lazing around like a bum or he'd be drunk. Whenever he was out, he was such a show-off to all his fans, it made me feel sick. He always looked down on me and said I wasn't good at anything." He kicked at the ground. "He definitely isn't the greatest dad in the world."

"But at least you got to live with him, and have memories of a family," I let out a small sigh. "It's better than finding out all of a sudden that the person you've been trying to defeat is your own brother."

"If you had a dad like my old man, you wouldn't be jealous of me." He punched his fist into his other hand. "The next time I see him, I'll beat him so hard it'll wipe that smug grin off his face, and I'll finally be able to get back at him for all the things he's done."

"Do you really hate him that much?"

"I won't be satisfied until I beat him in a fair match, to show him that I'm stronger and better than him." He turned to look at me. "I hope things go well with you and Golbez though. You're a nice guy, you deserve it." And he brandished his sword to fight another imitation that had appeared in the distance.

I watched him run towards his opponent, and thought about everything he's said. On the surface, it would appear like he hated his father, but his words didn't have much spite or anger in them. It felt more like he wanted his father to acknowledge him as a strong warrior, and for his father to be proud of the young man he's become.

No matter how much he denied it, he really did care for his family.


	5. Home: Bartz

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

"Hey Bartz, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"What's your home world like?"

He had been going around to all the others asking about their own worlds, not really understanding everything they talked about (honestly, I didn't believe Squall when he said gardens were mechanical buildings that flew around, but maybe in his world, it was true). Now it was my turn, and I expected it when he sat down across from me with an excited look on his face.

"Let's see, there aren't have many towns with machines for buildings like Terra. We don't have lots of airships like Zidane's world. And there definitely aren't any, what did Cloud call them, motorcycles? It's a pretty quiet world, kinda like Onion Knight's I guess."

"Is that so…" He propped his head on his hands. "But there's gotta be something different about your world from everyone else's, right?"

I tapped a finger on my chin, trying to think of things that weren't in anyone else's world. "I met a talking turtle."

"Whoah! Seriously?!" His eyes lit up. "Uhh, what's a turtle?"

I burst out laughing, he really got excited over everything. "Well, the closest thing it looks like that you know is a Tonberry I guess. Except it walks on all four legs and doesn't have a knife or a lantern."

"Ah, I see. Got it." He nodded his head once. "Anything else interesting?"

"There's more creatures, like Hiryuus. And there's sea dragons and pirates too."

"Pie-rats? Is that another kind of talking monster?"

I burst into another fit of laughter, and he just scratched his head watching me. So I told him everything about my journey- the first time I met Boco, how I met my friends, landing in a ship graveyard, riding on meteors to another world, all the way up to fighting Exdeath. While I was talking about everything, he just sat there, soaking up everything I said, occasionally chiming in with a "whoah" and a "hmm."

"You've really been to a lot of places."

"I guess I have."

"Don't you miss your home? Like, your real home, not just your home world."

"Well, I suppose I do." I looked at the ground, and felt the wind start to blow around us. "I've just been traveling around the world since I was pretty young, so I haven't visited my hometown a lot. Even when I did go, I didn't stay for long, it's not like I had a family waiting for me or anything. I guess I just went wherever the wind took me."

I turned to look at him. He had somewhat of a nostalgic look on his face. "So, what about your world? You never really told us anything about your home."

He laid back on the ground. "In the world I traveled in, there were lots of things that were new to me. It was the first time I ever saw a chocobo, and I was pretty shocked. But later, I spent hours training some chocobos to race, and I'm a racing pro."

"Maybe we should race chocobos sometime then."

"As long as there's no balloons or birds flying at me, I'm game."

Whatever balloons were, I had no idea why those things would be important in a race. "You said there were lots of things new to you, but since it was your home world, shouldn't you be familiar with some things?"

He scrunched his face in thought. "I knew blitzball. And the hymn and prayer, except those meant totally different things in my home. That's about it though."

"Tell me about your home."

"The world I traveled in was like most of your worlds, towns here and there, lots of open land, not too much machina though."

"Machina?"

"Oh, it's another word for machines. My home though was full of machina. It's full of really tall buildings that reach all the way up to the sky. The streets are always full of people, day or night. At night, all the buildings light up, and it looks really… pretty."

He sounded a bit sad when he finished talking. "Sounds like a fun place. You should bring all of us there to visit."

"I'd like to go back too."

"You will, once we find the crystals and go back to our worlds, won't you visit your home?"

He stood up and stretched his arms, his back facing me. "I don't think I can go back there anymore."

"Why not?"

"It's complicated." He turned to face me. "Anyway, thanks for talking with me. It was a lot of fun." And he walked away before I could ask him anything else.

It seemed like he was having fun exploring different places and hearing about everyone else's adventures. But once in a while, he'd have a lonely look on his face.

He really missed being home.


	6. Smiles: Terra

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

Re-posted 10.01.09

* * *

He was always cheerful and always smiling. It was like nothing in the world could ever bring him down, and I envied him for that.

"Is something wrong?"

I must have had a bad expression on my face, because he walked up to me with a worried face. I shook my head. "No, it's nothing. I'm fine."

"You sure? Lately, it looks like you're kinda out of it."

Sometimes, he tended to use words and expressions that most of us didn't understand. "Out of it? What am I out of?"

He waved both of his hands in front of him. "No, it's not like you're really out of something. It's more like, hmm, you've been looking kinda sad lately. Is something bothering you?"

I giggled, he was such a sweet and innocent boy. "No, it really is nothing. I was just thinking how nice it is that you're smiling all the time."

"It wasn't easy, but I had to go through training to smile in tough times." He seemed so proud about it, I giggled again.

"You know, you have a pretty nice smile." That took me by surprise, I haven't been complimented like that before. Well, Edgar did try to impress me with his flattery, but this felt more, genuine and innocent. "Why don't you smile more?"

"Well, there really isn't much to be happy about now, is there?" I told him truthfully. "Besides, I never really found reasons to smile in the past."

He crossed his arms and looked at the ground. "Yea, I kinda heard from Onion Knight and Cloud that you don't remember your past too much and stuff."

"I do remember a little, but the things I remember scares me." I looked down at the ground. "It's not a past that I'm proud of."

He started to look troubled. "But, whatever you did, it wasn't your fault right? Isn't it that crazy clown, what's his name, Kefka? Didn't he control you, or something like that?"

"Yes, he did. But it doesn't change the fact that I hurt so many people, and took so many lives..." I hugged myself for support. Cecil had once told us he was responsible for burning a village of innocents, and Cloud had said he had destroyed part of a city with innocent residents, but they never meant to hurt anyone intentionally like I was made to.

He paced back and forth, scratching his head in thought. After a while, he stopped and looked at me. "Why don't you just forget about it then?"

"What?"

"Well, trying to remember doesn't make you feel any better, does it? And you definitely don't wanna hurt other people intentionally, right?"

I shook my head firmly. "Of course not."

"Then just forget about it all. Don't focus on all the bad stuff." He looked up to the sky. "I told you before that I went through training to smile all the time. I learned it from a girl I was traveling with. She had a lot of tough stuff to deal with, but instead of letting everything get her down, she smiled to remember the good times we had. And even though our journey was hard and tiring most of the time, because I saw her smiling, it made everything seem better."

He looked back at me. "I guess, what I wanna say is, don't dwell on the bad things. Just smile with the rest of us, and make this journey a good one to remember. Besides, it bothers us guys when we see a pretty girl in distress."

I was touched that he cared so much. "Thank you for your concern, really. It means a lot to me." I gave him a bright, genuine smile, and he gave me a smile in return.

He always smiles to cheer us up when we were feeling down. He laughs so that we can forget our troubles and remember something good that happened.

In good times and in bad times, he smiles to bring us hope.


	7. Protecting: Cloud

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

I don't know what came over me when I asked him to spar with me out of the blue, but he didn't question me and followed me without saying a word. He wasn't taking the fight seriously, his normal movements were way quicker than he was moving now. But that's probably because I wasn't concentrating wholly on this fight either. Before I knew it, he was in front of me, the tip of his sword centimeters away from my neck.

"So," he stepped back and lowered his sword, "what wrong?"

"What makes you think something's bothering me?"

He shrugged. "You don't seem like your normal quiet Cloud self. Well, you are being quiet, you just look kinda dazed though."

He leaned on his sword and looked at me while I stood still, not saying a word. True, there had been something I've been wondering for a while now, but I never thought we'd have this conversation with him initiating it. "I heard you were a guardian back in your world."

"Yeah, I was."

"You had to go on a journey and protect someone the whole way."

"That's what guardians do, they make sure their summoner is safe through their pilgrimage."

"So you were successful in keeping her safe then?"

He almost lost his grip on his sword and tripped a little. "How did you know it was a girl?"

"Just guessing. Answer the question."

He straightened himself up. "We did keep her safe all the way, so even she could see that she saved Spira."

"She wasn't supposed to see it?"

"If we followed all the laws and rules, no, she wouldn't have. But somehow we managed." He smiled.

I felt a heavy lump form in my throat. "So you were successful then…"

He looked puzzled. "Were you guarding someone too?" I couldn't speak, so I just nodded. "Didn't you manage to save your world? So, that means you didn't fail, right?"

"Just because we saved the world, doesn't mean I saved her." I don't know why I kept talking, but I didn't stop. I told him everything about Aerith, how I was supposed to protect her from Shinra, how we found out about her being the last Ancient, and how her sacrifice led to the salvation of the world.

After listening to everything I said, he just stood there, soaking everything in. "Even though you say all that, I don't think you failed her."

Something inside me snapped, and I grabbed his collar. "I was right in front of her when she died! I could've saved her!"

He didn't seem phased at all and kept a calm face. "Was she angry when she died?"

"What?"

"You said you were in front of her. Did you see her face?"

My grip loosened. Even after failing her, she wasn't upset with me. "No, she, she was smiling, until the end."

He put a hand on my shoulder. "That's one thing I don't understand about girls. Once they put their mind to protecting something they really care about, they don't care what happens to them, as long as their loved ones are safe."

I let go of his collar and turned around, hanging my head. "It's not fair that she had to give herself up to save us though."

"As long as you saved your world, I don't think she'll be too upset with you."

"You managed to save your girl though."

"I did save her, but that doesn't mean she didn't lose anyone. Someone else took her place, kinda."

I turned to look at him again, and this time he looked away from me. "What do you mean?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Nevermind that." He put both hands on his hips. "Anyway, going back to you, if you still feel bad and sorry and if you still think you failed your girl, you can make it up to her."

What in the world was he thinking of. "How?"

"When we finish this war, and when you go back to your world, go back and protect the people and things she loved. There must've been something special to her, right?"

An old church, filled with flowers, probably getting messy without someone to care for it. "Yeah, there is."

He gave me a small punch to my arm. "Take good care of it, so that you never forget her. If you forget about everything she's done, I think that's when you really fail her." He started walking back to camp. "Don't let it bother you too much now. We still have a fight to finish, so we can protect Cosmos. So that peace can come to all our worlds, the worlds that our loved ones care about."

I nodded, and wondered when he started to think like an adult, not like a carefree adolescent he was. After talking with him, I found out that he has a strong sense of duty.

He would go through hell to protect the people and things he cares about.


	8. Separations: Squall

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

"Hey, Squall!"

I didn't bother to turn at the voice, and I knew it wouldn't stop him- he'd just keep talking to me anyway. "Zidane and Bartz were looking all over for you. I think they wanted to go around and explore with you or something. Maybe get you to open up a little and talk more." There was a joking tone in his voice.

I sighed, sometimes those two were impossible to handle. Just because we helped each other a bit while finding our crystals, they thought we'd all be joined at the hip or something. And they were both way too energetic and didn't understand the meaning of personal space. "Whatever."

He stopped next to me. "Aren't you gonna go find them?"

Why can't people leave me alone? Warrior of Light rarely talks, but nobody bothers him. "I really couldn't care less."

He frowned. "They're just trying to spend more time with you now, since when this is all over, we'll have to separate and go back to our home worlds."

He wasn't going to leave me alone anytime soon, and it looked like I had to spell everything out for him. "All the more I think it's a waste. Why go through all the trouble getting to know each other when there's a big chance we might never see each other again?"

"Well, it's so that we can have good memories of everyone, and of our journey."

I gave a small snort. "If everyone's just going to leave me in the end, what do I need memories for if I can't be with them later."

He scowled. "You know, I think you're being too childish about this."

He was calling _me_ a child? "What did you say?"

He crossed his arms. "It's not like everyone's trying to hang out with you just to dump you off to the side once they go home. They really wanna get to know you and become friends. What's so bad about that?"

I brought my hand to my head, massaging it. This guy doesn't know when to quit. "I'm fine being by myself."

"But you can't be alone forever. There's always gonna be someone who wants to talk with you no matter where you go, as long as you're alive."

I couldn't take it anymore. I started to walk away, hoping he'd finally get the hint to get off my back. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to get it.

"You're just afraid that everyone's going to leave you."

That struck a nerve. I turned to look at him, glaring daggers at him. He wasn't moved at all and kept talking. "You don't wanna get close to people and have good times with them because you're afraid that they'll leave and forget all about you, like the times you spent together meant nothing to them."

I clenched my fist. "Shut up."

"But you know what? Even though we wanna stay together forever, there's gonna be times when we have to leave each other. If it's only for a little bit or for thousands of years, we don't know. But it happens, and we have to learn to deal with it."

I was sorely tempted to punch his lights out. "Shut _up_!" He finally decided to shut his mouth. "You don't know what it's like, to have someone you really cared for and depended on to just leave without a word, only to have them come back years later and expect everything to be fine between you. Or someone who left you long before and expects you to welcome them with open arms, just because you're related to them."

"You're not the only one who's lost people, or have people leave them before." He was blinking a lot, was he trying not to cry? "How do you think I felt when I saw my old man again, when I thought he was dead for most of my life? How do you think I felt when I saw my mom's life fade away when she was upset that my old man was gone?"

"That just adds to my point of why I don't need to interact with people. Everyone ends up leaving."

He threw his hands into the air. "Ugh, you are impossible!" He pointed a finger at me. "You know, it does suck for the people that's left behind. But don't you think the people that leave us feel bad about it too? It's not like they leave so they get a kick out of it. If they really cared for each other, then people never wanna be separated. But sometimes, we have to leave each other."

That was true, I never really took time to understand why Ellone had to leave me. When I was a kid, I thought she abandoned me, like I thought my parents had. "But why do they have to leave us?"

He brushed his arm against his eyes. "Sometimes, we just have to. Like right now, you're here with us, but you have friends waiting for you back home, right? You couldn't control it, but you're the one who left everyone back home."

That was another way to look at things, but was anyone at home even aware that I was gone? How much time had passed at home since I came here? "I guess, you're right, in some weird way."

He nodded, and seemed to cheer up a bit. "When you go back home, you can be with your friends again. You can laugh together, go to places together, and just be with them." He crossed his arms again. "And when you can't be together anymore, you still have the memories of the good times you had with each other. It may hurt, and it's not as good as the real thing, but it helps."

I crossed my arms, a bit embarrassed that I was being lectured to by someone the same age. "You need to go back to the people you left too, right? I bet they're really worried about you."

He smiled, although it wasn't his usual smile that lit up his eyes. "Sometimes, no matter how hard we wish for it, we can't go back." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I just came here to tell you Zidane and Bartz were looking for you. You should go see them." And with a wave, he walked away.

I realized that throughout our journey, he'd always be talking with everyone and making them smile. I thought he was just an overly friendly guy, but he was trying to make good memories with everyone together, so he'd have something to remember them by when they were gone.

Perhaps, he understood the pain of being separated more than anyone else.


	9. Passionate: Zidane

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

"Princess… Wilt thou be happy, married to a lowly peasant such as I?"

"Uhh, sorry but I'm not a princess."

Startled, I quickly looked up to see him, smiling and trying not to laugh at me for calling him a princess. "Not sparring with the others today?"

"Nah, I got tired of it," and he took a seat next to me.

Lately, everyone had been sparring with each other during our free time. Which was understandable, since that was one thing all of us had in common. Other than that, there didn't seem to be another activity that we knew and could participate in.

"So what exactly were you saying before?" He turned to look at me, still smiling.

"They're lines from a play, called _I Want to Be Your Canary_."

"Plays have lines? And what's a kuhn-eary?"

I looked at him with wide eyes. "Haven't you ever seen a play before?"

He scratched his head. "You mean plays in a game? Like how we make formations for offense and defense?"

I was completely lost by what he said. "What?"

He put his chin in his hand. "What play are you talking about?"

"Plays, when stories from books are acted out by people in front of an audience."

He shook his head. "So you performed in lots of plays back in your world?"

I nodded. "That's what my friends and I did for a living, along with some thieving." He gave my arm a light punch; he thought it wasn't right to steal from people, even if the people we stole from were mostly pompous jerks. "But I really do miss it, acting with other people. For a little bit, you become a totally different person, like a knight in shining armor, or an evil king, roles like that. It's exciting."

"It sounds interesting."

"It is, especially for real shows, not just during practice. You get ready to perform, in front of a large group of people, and you start to get a bit nervous and jittery."

He nodded. "Yeah, and sometimes you get a funny feeling in your stomach."

My voice started to get a bit louder. "Uh-huh. And then finally when it starts, everyone's real quiet and just watching you."

He sat up straighter. "And when something exciting happens, like a fight, everyone starts to get more pumped."

We were both speaking faster and faster. "Yeah! And when you nail a line or pull off a crazy stunt, everyone's standing and cheering for you."

"And at the end, when you win, you just have a huge adrenaline rush and you feel like you're on top of the world." He pumped his fists into the air and fell to the ground, lying with his arms splayed out.

We sat in silence, imagining crowds of people smiling and cheering for us. After a while, I turned to look at him. "What is the name of the game you play?"

He sat up again. "Blitzball. It's a game you play underwater. I use a blitzball when I fight sometimes."

"Oh, so that's the weird bumpy ball you're throwing around." He nodded. "You must be crazy about the game, since you adapted it into your fighting style." I grinned.

"You can bring your acting into fighting too. Before you attack, you can say lines from plays, kinda like what your brother does." He laughed as I made retching noises.

He started talking again after we calmed down. "I really don't wanna give up blitzball while we're here, even if I have no one to play against. It's the only thing I have that reminds me of home. Well, I have my sword too, but blitzball reminds me of _home_ home." He scratched his head. "Does that sound weird?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I think I know what you mean." I swished my tail around a bit. "I think it's nice you have something other than fighting that you really care about."

"Really? How come?"

I shrugged. "I mean, you're passionate about something other than fighting. Squall has his card game, but he only plays that occasionally, and he makes it sound like a chore, collecting all the different kinds of cards. Cloud said he played in a game center, but he also said he spent most of his time in the game center's fighting arena. And everyone else said they were in a war or heading towards the end of the world to worry about anything else other than fighting." I blew my bangs out of my face. "I dunno, maybe I'm just homesick."

"Hmm." He got up and stretched. "When you go back home, you can get your friends together and put on hundreds of shows, one right after another, until you get sick of it."

"Haha, maybe I will." I beamed up at him. "And when you go back, you can play in all the blitzball games you want until you feel so tired, your body feels like goo."

"I'd like that, if they'd let me go back."

"You said you were a star player right? Of course they'll take you back."

He smiled a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "We'll see what happens."

I stood up and gave him a reassuring pat on his back. We saw everyone start to come back towards camp, and we started heading back to camp as well.

"By the way," he stopped by his tent, feeling around for something, "check out this new move I thought of and see if it's okay or not." He held something in his hand and started to wind up for a powerful kick. And before I could warn him, he had kicked away a Moogle doll that Terra had asked him to watch for safekeeping. He spent the following moments running away from an angry and transformed Terra, while I stood there and broke down laughing.

Some people would think it foolish that he tries to play a ball game while fighting; some might think that his fixation for the game is childish. But I didn't think so at all.

I found it admirable that he was so passionate about something that he would give his all to it.


	10. Revelations: Warriors of Cosmos

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix  
**Warning: Spoiler alert if you haven't played or finished FFX.**

* * *

Everything was supposed to turn out okay. After they all found their crystals, Cosmos was supposed to lead them to victory against Chaos, and they were all supposed to go home.

But things were not going as expected. Cosmos has perished in front of their eyes, and all the warriors were standing helpless and lost in front of Chaos. What were they supposed to do now?

"Huh… what the…"

Everyone was shaken out of their thoughts when they heard Tidus's voice, and were in for a bigger shock. There were lights coming out of him, and he had a very worried look on his face.

"Not again… no… NO!" He fell to his knees and disappeared in a flash, and in that instant, all of them were flooded with images and voices.

---

_A huge city, full of people and lights, a familiar figure running through the crowds.  
The city is being destroyed. A man in a red coat with dark glasses, holding him up by his collar.  
"This is your story."_

_A group of people is standing behind him as he brandishes his sword._  
"_I know it's selfish… but this is my story!"_

_A young boy falls down as he tries to kick a ball, and gets embarrassed when he finds his father was watching him.  
Trying to call out to his mother, who ignores him and continues to talk with his father._  
"_Ah, go to him. He'll cry if you don't."_

_News reaching their family that his father had disappeared at sea.  
"Do you... Do you hate him so? If he dies, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him."_

_A young boy with a hood covering his eyes is talking with him.  
"We've been dreaming so long… we're tired."_  
"_Maybe you are the dream that will end our dreaming at last."_

_A girl with blue and green eyes isn't looking at him when she speaks, with a sad expression._  
"_The fayth said it's pointless to keep dreaming. The dream will disappear, he said."__  
"You won't...go away, will you?"_

_His blond hair standing out from all the other peole swimming around in a sphere, a grin on his face as he knocks an opponent out of the pool._

_A man with red hair sticking straight up comes up to him, a look of awe on his face.__  
"You wanna try that move one more time?"  
He's training with a group of men wearing the same bright yellow uniform, getting them in shape for a tournament._

_The girl with blue and green eyes again, shaking her head.  
"Don't say it isn't worth it... because it is. Even for a little while...people can sleep in their beds without being afraid. That kind of time is worth anything."_

_A girl with yellow hair looks down at the ground, eyes filled with tears.  
__"Summoners shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves...just so the rest of Spira can be happy, right?"  
A man and a woman walk over to them.__  
"But that is our choice..."  
__"We all live in fear of Sin. You know that."  
"A world without Sin... That is the dream of all Yevon's children. And we will use that power, even if it means our lives!"_

_He's walking up to a lady dressed in black with long black hair.__  
"Uh, what's a 'sending'? Are we going somewhere?"  
"You truly are clueless. The dead need guidance. The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace."_  
"_Summoners do this?"_

_He walks up to the lady in black, and she starts speaking to him.__  
"There's no temple here in Guadosalam, see? Summoners usually just pass through on their way elsewhere."  
He laughs._  
"_What?"_  
"_I didn't even ask a question and you're explaining things."_

_Jecht turns to the man in the red coat.  
"Okay. Listen good. Take care of my son. My son,in Zanarkand. He's such a crybaby. He needs someone there to hold his hand, see? Take care of him, will you?"_

_Looking down at his father's head on his lap, tears streaming down his face.  
"I hate you Dad."_

_"You know...for the first time, I'm glad... to have you as my father."_

_He's standing next to the girl with blue and green eyes._  
"_It's embarrassing to say this myself... but summoners and their guardians are kind of like Spira's ray of light. I learned to practice smiling when I'm sad, you know?"  
She makes him practice smiling and laughing, while the others in their group look on with confused faces.  
"Um... thank you. I want my journey to be full of laughter."_

_He's talking with a tall, furry, blue person._  
"_She's awfully cheerful."__  
"In dark times she must be. She must shine bright. Now are dark times. Yuna tries hard."  
"Don't worry, be happy?"_

_The man in the red coat is yelling at them.  
" He is a guardian. Protecting you is everything."_  
"_That's right! We're all guardians! Yeah, and you know what that means? Yuna... Anywhere you go, I'll follow!"_  
"_Anywhere I go?"_  
"_Yeah, anywhere!"_

_He teaches the girl with blue and green eyes how to whistle.  
"Hey, use that if we get separated. Then, I'll come running, okay?"_

_His body is starting to fade. Everyone looks sad, and the girl with blue and green eyes is trying hard not to cry._  
"_Yuna, I have to go."  
He says goodbye, and turns away from everyone to leave. She runs up and tries to embrace him, but falls right through him.  
She gets up.  
"I love you."__  
He walks up and hugs her from behind, even though they can't feel each other anymore._

_They're underwater, spinning around each other, with bright smiles on their faces._

_He walks through her and jumps into the sky as he finally fades away._

_The girl with blue and green eyes is standing by the sea, and does nothing but whistle. But no one comes to her._

_She's speaking in front of a crowd of people  
"Just, one more thing... The people and the friends that we have lost, or the dreams that have faded... Never forget them."_

---_  
_

What seemed to last for an eternity had passed in mere seconds. Bartz and Zidane were the first to recover from the shock.

"Tidus!"

Before anyone could move, they all started to disappear, one by one, until none of them remained.

* * *

They were supposed to be 'dead,' but they were back in their bodies, holding their crystals, their will and determination set to face Chaos again. The group started to walk towards Chaos's throne, but Frioniel stood still.

"Why didn't you tell us anything?"

Everyone turned back to see him with an angry frown on his face, but he was only looking at Tidus.

"Uhh, tell you what?" The blond looked confused, and everyone was trying not to meet his eyes. Everything he talked to them about, all his half-smiles, they finally understood what it all meant.

Cecil put his hand on Frioniel's shoulder to try to calm him down. "We saw everything that happened during your journey in your world, and we know what happened to you in the end."

Tidus just crossed both his arms. "Oh…"

Terra wrung her hands with worry. "What will happen when we end the war? We all have friends and family waiting for us at home, but you…"

He scratched his head. "Well, I don't think it's hopeless for me right now. I mean, I'm with all you guys now, right? If I really didn't belong in my world, Cosmos would've called someone else to fight instead," he looked around to see the other's reactions, "…right?"

"You may be right," everyone looked at Warrior of Light. "We cannot lose hope here. We thought our fight was over when Cosmos died, but we were given a second chance." He turned to face Tidus directly. "Do not give up."

Tidus sniffed and brushed a hand against his nose. "Don't worry about me, I'm ready to take Chaos down. But, thanks everyone." He smiled. "You guys should be more worried about getting yourselves home before you worry about me. I'll manage somehow." He gave Onion Knight, who was rubbing at his eyes, a pat on his back. "Come on, we have a war to win."


	11. Shine Like the Sun: Warriors of Cosmos

Disclaimer- Dissidia and all its characters belong to Square Enix

* * *

They had done it. Chaos had been defeated, and now they were standing in a wide, open grassy field.

Warrior of Light breathed a sigh of relief. "The fighting has come to an end."

Everyone relaxed, happy that the fight was finally over. But a thought came over them, how were they supposed to go back home? They looked to the lake, where Tidus was standing with his back facing them. How would he go home?

Tidus glanced down at his crystal. "So, I guess this is goodbye...?"

His crystal started to glow, and he heard a faint whistle. He looked more closely at his crystal, and saw the back of a person with short, brown hair, surrounded by flowers, and he heard a louder, clearer whistle. His eyes got wide, did this mean he had another chance? He looked up and saw a faint figure of Bahamut's fayth, fading away.

He turned around to see everyone looking at him. "Don't worry. The crystal knows the rest of the way." Everyone gasped, was there hope for him?

He kept talking to them. "Besides…" He pointed a thumb to his heart. "I'll always be right here." He flashed a bright, genuine smile, and as everyone watched him jump off a rock and disappear before he hit the lake, they knew he would be fine. And when he opened his eyes next, curled up in a ball in the ocean, they knew his story would continue in his rightful home with all his loved ones.

They would all remember him and his story, and how he touched and affected everyone with his presence, like how the sun's light brings life to everything.

They would never forget the boy who shined like the sun.

* * *

_*Get ready for a super long author's note, I didn't want to write author's notes in each separate chapter because I wanted the story to keep flowing without any outside notes.__*_

It is finished! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and story-alerted this piece, it really means a lot to me.

So, why did I write about Tidus? Most people find Tidus annoying and don't take him seriously as a main character for Final Fantasy, but I adore him. He's only a teenager, and he didn't have too much of a messed up life, and he was happy. He's allowed to joke around and be silly and have fun. Not every male protagonist has to be a silent, brooding angst-bucket (not making fun of Squall and Cloud, I think they're awesome cookies, when they're not being too emo).

Also, Tidus is my second favorite character in Dissidia, right after Terra. And while I was playing his story mode, I thought that he was the only character who could probably relate to all the other characters in some way. Well, I guess all characters can relate to the others in one way or another, but Tidus is my Golden Boy who is super special awesome. So it took me ten months after finishing all the story modes in Dissidia to get this down, haha.

The characters whose ideas came to me the easiest were Frioniel, Onion Knight, and Zidane. Frioniel dreamed of a peaceful world, Onion Knight is the only kid, and Zidane and Tidus were the only characters who had fun professions other than being fighters.

The characters who were the easiest to write were Warrior of Light and Bartz, which is weird because Warrior of Light is super generic and doesn't have his own character, so it should be harder to write for him. And I didn't manage to beat FFV yet because my PSX version is glitchy :( I had to look up a FFV synopsis and game script to write Bartz's chapter ^^;;

The characters that were the toughest to write were Cecil and Terra. I didn't want to beat the whole 'I'm fighting family!!1!' idea over the head, but Cecil, Zidane, and Tidus were the only characters that were fighting family members, and I already had Zidane's story set, so Cecil got stuck with family. I felt bad about re-doing Terra's chapter, but I was seriously not pleased with it when I posted it the first time, and I have no idea why I posted it if I didn't like it that much, probably because I was tired and my brain went on auto.

Also, I used Frioniel instead of Firion because I played the Japanese version of Dissidia first before I played FFII US PSP version, so I got acquainted to him as Frioniel. Terra is Terra because I played FFVI (FFIII for SNES) a long time ago, so I find it weird to call her Tina all of a sudden. I also mixed lines from the Japanese and English scripts for the last two chapters because I like how those lines fit together.

I also took the liberty of changing how stuff happened in the tenth chapter from what really happened in Dissidia, but this is a fanfiction, so I allowed myself to twist the story around a bit :)

Is the story perfect? I definitely don't think so. As I was writing and proof-reading, I felt like sometimes I was missing something, or I over-explained and described stuff, and I was worried I kept repeating phrases over and over again (i.e. he smiled, they turned to whoever, general Tidus actions when he was talking to someone). And I was worried that I didn't get what I wanted to convey with each story clearly enough. And chapter 10 is full of events mixed up from the original order of events, I hope that part wasn't too hard to read. But I am happy with the way everything came out in the end overall. And I feel super accomplished that I finished a multi-chapter story, even if was just a collection of drabbles (which reminds me, I still have to upload a chapter of the other multi-chapter story I'm writing from a year ago :D;;)

There were more things I wanted to say, but I can't remember it right now. I guess I'll just write it in later if I remember, haha.

Super huge thanks to EVERYONE again, seriously. Thanks for taking time out of your lives to read this. You all deserve chocolate-chip cookies of awesome :)b

-ChocoBanana Parfait


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